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West Elm Sofa Delivery Delays Get Uncomfortable

A woman who ordered a couch for her mother turned to NBC 7's Consumer Bob and the NBC 7 Responds team for help when her delivery was delayed for months. (Published Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019)

Celia Reyes finally managed to convince her mother Blanca to move to San Diego from her Bay Area home. Reyes says she found an apartment in San Diego for her mom and wanted to make her transition as comfortable as possible.

She and Blanca needed one last item to tie the new apartment together; a new sofa.

The mother and daughter went to the West Elm store in Solana Beach in late August and found the perfect sofa.

“We found a couch that she really liked and it would be the one thing that was new in her new apartment,” Celia said. “She chose this cayenne, red bright color because she likes bright colors so it was fun and it was a nice thing to do for her.”

The store employee told Celia that there was one minor snag; the sofa was out of stock and would have to be backordered. That meant, said the employee, that it could take between 6-to-8 weeks to get delivered. Celia and Blanca agreed.

But 12 weeks soon rolled around and still no sofa. Celia told NBC 7 Responds that she called West Elm to see when her mom’s sofa would arrive.

“I didn’t get anywhere except automated emails that say that we are working with logistics to get the couch,” she said.

After not getting anywhere with the phone calls, Celia searched for other options. A coworker approached her with a suggestion.

“I called NBC 7 Responds on a Thursday. They got in touch with me the same day. The very next day, on Friday morning, I get two calls from West Elm saying they were calling to schedule a delivery,” said Celia. “They apologized and said they would make sure my mom got her sofa.”

West Elm offered to send Blanca a temporary sofa to get her by until the sofa she ordered could be made.

Then, on December 11, nearly four months after she bought the sofa, a delivery person arrived at Blanca’s front door. West Elm also gave Celia and her mom a $200 gift card, which they have donated to Meals on Wheels.

“If it wasn’t for this program, this resource, my mother and I would have been lost in the shuffle.”

A spokesperson for West Elm told NBC 7 Responds, “We are committed to upholding our promise of providing outstanding customer service and have addressed Ms. Reyes’ order and apologized for the inconvenience.”